User Reviews

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Submitted by
delfinus
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: September 26, 2011

Bottom Line:

I tried quite some cables for my combination and finally I found my best combination in system which is consisted of Musical Fidelity A308 integrated, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista CDP and Anthony Gallo speakers. Before trying Cardas Golden Cross RCA ICs i tried the following: Nordost Blue Heaven, Nordost Red Dawn, Nordost TYR, Van Den Hul The First, Oyaide Across 750RR, Oehlbach NH-1. Nordost i found to analytical and a bit dry. They are fast and you enjoy them as they are so opened. But after some time maybe this is too much. All of these Nordost cables had the same character. I think that Nordost are best in warm systems. Van Den Hul was a bit dull, Oyaide Across 750RR was best before I tried Cardas Golden Cross. I borrowed Cardas Golden Cross ICs from my friend. These cables brought exactly what i enjoy most. No sibilance, no spiting sounds, fullness of the instruments, creamy musical enjoyment and pleasure that you can listen all recordings you have at home for hours and hours. These cables are really all about music and that matters for me. Really enjoyed these cables and now I'm searching for some second hand to grab them.

To me, Cardas Golden Cross IC has become an extension or part of my CD player (Rega Jupiter). What it does for CD playback is to bring about about a richness and dimensionally of tone that I only knew from high quality LP playback. I would hesitate to categorize this cable as warm or bright. It just sounds right and I go to a lot of live concerts and play a couple instruments myself. After using the Quadlink for over 15 years (with great results) and experimenting with other cables in it's price range, the Golden Cross is quite a revelation. I do not enjoy the hyper detailed bleached out sound over the long haul and many of the competitors sound this way to me. The Cardas sound in emotional, and in my opinion what real music sounds like.

I wonder if home trial of Cardas cables is a waste of time. Why? Because the changes of the break-in or burn-in or whatever you call it, in the sound are so racidal and take such a long time. At least 1000 hours.

I bought my 1m pair used, they were air mailed and handled and twisted and so on, and it took the above number of hours to relax. You would think they had been broken-in already, being used for several years, but no! These cables have to be left alone for (a couple of) thousand hours and played, before they are what they are.

An interesting cable. It seems to enhance the bass depth and detail, midrange seems fairly neutral, top end a little tame. For some, the lack of hardness up top is a great thing. For me, while I appreciated the lack of harshness, I missed the sparkle, air and excitement of the top end.

I use a warm, energetic sounding Exposure CD player, warm sounding Perreaux SM6P Reference preamp, and Mass Technology active speakers. I also use a Whise subwoofer - precision bass! Once the Cardas Golden Cross interconnect was burnt in (3 days continuous), I found the combination a little bland. Clear - Definitely. Warm - absolutely. Detailed - yes. Clean, yep. Lack of harshness and glare > Bonus. It just lacks a little enjoyment for my taste. But, I will be keeping it for reference.

After buying into the Cardas Golden Cross 'hype' I did indeed buy a 1.5m length of it (RCA) to connect my Linn Ikemi CD player to the Mac C100 preamp.

Just for fun one night, my audiophile girlfriend and I placed some Analysis Plus Crystal Oval interconnects there instead and compared some of our favorite and familiar tunes.

The Golden Cross left everything too muted and dull! For instance, a Celtic violin piece came across so realistically without the Golden Cross you could hear the raspy rosin sounding bow across strings effect the musician was trying for. It was almost totally absent with the Golden Cross.

We also substituted TMC interconnects and could not tell the difference between it and the Analysis Plus....but both of these totally beat the Golden Cross very soundly!

Thank God everyone out there believes this is great wire so I could resell it and recoup the money!

If you don't like the sound of your components, change them! Don't buy overly muted/colored wires to compensate.